Airship.



A.- STAROSTA.

AIRSHIP.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 22. ma.

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amvamtoz A smms'm, AERSHIP. APPLICATION FILED IUNF. 22. HHS.

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A. STAROSTA.

MRSHIP.

APPLICATKON FILED JUNE 22.1918.

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@mwmioz ANTQN STABOSTA, 0F ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA.

AIRSHIP.

Specification of Letters Iatent. Patented Sept. 16, 1918.

Application filed June 22, 1918. Serial No. 241,421.

. 1 '0 all ivhom it may concern:

Be it known that. I, AN'roN STAnosTA, a citizen of the United States, residing at Erie. in the county of Erie and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Airship, of which the following is a specification. i

This invention relates to airships, one of its objects being to combine in a single machine all of the advantages of the aeroplane, the helicopter, and the orthopter.

A further objectis to provide a machine of this character having a. parachute combined therewith whereby a safe landing can be effected should the machine become injured or get out of control while in flight.

Another object is to provide simple and etlicient means for operating the wings of the machine to facilitate the ascent thereof and to maintain the machine over a. fixed, point With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention consists of certain novel details of construction and combinations of parts which will be hereinafter more fully described and pointed out in the claims. itbeing understood that various changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings the preferred form of the invention has been shown.

In said drawings Figure 11's :1 plan View.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation.

Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section on an enlarged scale, taken on line 3-3, Fig. 2.

Fig. 4' is a detail view of a portion. of the S'tGOIlDgZ mechanism.

Referring to the figures by characters of reference, 1 designates the bottom frame 'of the machine, the same being provided with a filling or floor formed of superposed layers of heavy metal fabric, 2, between which is held a thickness 3, of cork or the like, thus to form a structure that willfloat on the surface of the water. Struts 4: are extended upwardly from this platform or bottom and are connected at their upper ends by transverse strips 5. llcarwardly converging upper and lower side spars are secured to the struts. and all of these spars, which come to a point and which have been indicated at 6, are suitably secured together to form the fuselage of the machine.

Supporting wheels 7 are connected to the platform and additional su 'iporting wheels are connected to the tail portion of the fuse lage, as shown at 8. A tail plane 9 is extended rearward] y from the fuselage and mounted to swing horizontally above and below this tail plane is a rudder 10 which moves about a suitably braced pivot shaft-11 secured .to the rear ends of the spars 6. Spools 12 are mounted for rotation upon the rear portion of the frame of the machine and gears 13 rotate therewith and mesh with an actuating gear 14 interposed therebetween.

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This gear 14 is secured to a shaft 15 on which is secured a sprocket 16 adapted to receive motion through a chain 17 from a sprocket 18 on. a steering post 19 which is arranged in front of the seat 20 used by the aviator. Cords 21 are secured to and wound upon the spools 15 and are guided by sheaves on the tail plane, the cords being attached to the. sides of the rudder. Thus when the stcering post is turned in one direction the rudder will be swung to the left and, when turned in the opposite direction the rudder will be turned to the right.

A propeller shaft is arranged longitudh nally on the machine as shown at 23 and is provided at its front end with a propeller 24. A bearing 25, in the form of a spider, is socured to the front of the frameof the machine and supports the frontcnd portion of said shaft. i he shaft can be driven in any suitable manner by a motor, not shown, and is adapted to transmit motion, through a sprocket 26, chain 27 and sprocket 28 to a shaft 29. A gear 30 on this shaft 29, meshes with a gear 31 on the lower end of a vertical shaft 32 located at the center of gravity, and

.this vertical shaft transmits motion around .a shaft 38 having a crank arm 39. This crank arm engages and is adapted to reciprocate a vertical frame 40 extending longitu'dlnally of the machine and mounted in guides 41. The front and back portions of v the frame constitute double racks as shown at-42 and each of them extends between and meshes with opposed segmental gears 43 bearing on. pivot shafts 44. The gears are formed at the inner ends of wing frames 45 which extend upwardly and laterally within and beyond the frame of the machine and are covered with canvas 46 or other material so that, when the frames are flapped by oscillating the frames 45, the canvas portions of the wings will swing downwardly and inwardly to displace airdownwardlyand elevate the machine and upwardly and outwardly to displace laterally the air in the paths thereof. The action of the air during the upward movement of the wings has been indicated by arrows in full'lines in Fig. 3 and, during the downward movement of the wings, by dotted arrows in said figure. Ob viouslythe flapping of the wings will be caused by the reciprocatingframe oscillatingthe gears 43, the frame being recip-' .rocated by the rotating crank 39. Braces 47 are connected to the front and back portions of the Wings and constitute trusses, these braces preferably having slidable connections with-the adjacent struts 4, as shown at 48.

For the purpose of retarding the descent of the machine a parachute 49 is extended over the fuselage of the machine, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the shaft 33 being extended therethrough and there being valved ope1iings therein to permit the air to pass upwardly therethrough during the ascent,

these openings being shown at 50. Suitably arranged clutches, not showmaindcr the control of levers 51, can be provided for controlling the transmission of motion to the different shafts thus to control the operation of the propeller, the helicopter and the wings. Clutches of various kinds are so 'the frame of the airship, gears common that it is not deemed necessary to show or describe them.

If desired another parachute can be extended over the lifting wheel so that said wheel will be located between two para- .chutes. This is so obvious that illustration thereof is not deemed necessary.

What is claimed is 1. In-a'n airship the combination with a frame and a valved parachute supported thereover, of wings pivotally connected to the airship structure adjaeent'the longitudinal center thereof and extending upwardly and outwardly and thence downwardly and outwardly to form an intermediate ridge, braces connecting the outer and inner end portions of each wing and slidabl y engaging at the inner ends of the wings and concentric with the pivots thereof, and reciprocating racks between and meshing with the gears for oscillating the wings.

2. In an airship the combination with a frame, superposed metal fabrics secured to the bottom thereof, and a buoyant material held within the space between the fabrics and forming a floor and float, of' laterally extending wings pivoted near the center of the machine, gears thereon and concentric with the pivots, reciprocating raeks'engaging the gears for flapping the wings, a parachute, and a helicopter extending above, the parachute.

In testimony that I claim the my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

ANTON STAROSTA.

Witnesses:

F. J. BENDER, *KARL G. SCHWARZ. 

